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CHICAGO — Award-winning crime writer Karin Slaughter will be a featured speaker at the 2014 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence award ceremony, where the two winners will be announced. The event will take place from 8 -10 p.m. on Saturday, June 28, during ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, and the two winning authors (one for fiction, one for nonfiction) will each take home $5,000 with their medal.

A champion of libraries, Slaughter believes that, “Like many authors, I owe my career to the librarians who gave me great books to read.” She is the founder of the SaveTheLibraries project, which has raised more than $50,000 for the DeKalb County (Ga.) Library Foundation, and Slaughter participates actively in library events across the country. Her first novel “Blindsighted” was published in almost 30 languages and made the Crime Writers' Association's Dagger Award shortlist for "Best Thriller Debut" of 2001.

A conference highlight for many, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence event includes an engaging program hosted by selection committee chair Nancy Pearl, followed by a dessert and drinks reception where attendees mingle with shortlisted authors, colleagues, editors and ALA leaders. Five attendees will win signed copies of all six 2014 finalist titles during the reception.

The awards, established in 2012, recognize the best of the best in fiction and nonfiction titles for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by ALA and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. The awards are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world and are co-sponsored by Booklist Publications and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). More information on the longlist, shortlist and awards themselves is at http://www.ala.org/carnegieadult.

For the first time in 2014, the Michael L. Printz Program and Reception, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction announcements and presentations, and the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet are being held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening, respectively, allowing attendees to enjoy all three without conflicts.